Electronic dura mater for long-term multimodal neural interfaces

TLDR

The mechanical mismatch between soft neural tissues and stiff neural implants hinders the long‑term performance of implantable neuroprostheses. We designed and fabricated soft neural implants that mimic the shape and elasticity of dura mater, the brain and spinal cord protective membrane. The electronic dura mater (e‑dura) embeds interconnects, electrodes, and chemotrodes capable of sustaining millions of mechanical stretch cycles, electrical stimulation pulses, and chemical injections. The e‑dura enables multiple neuroprosthetic applications, such as extracting cortical states for brain‑machine interfaces and delivering spinal neuromodulation that restored locomotion after spinal cord injury.

Abstract

The mechanical mismatch between soft neural tissues and stiff neural implants hinders the long-term performance of implantable neuroprostheses. Here, we designed and fabricated soft neural implants with the shape and elasticity of dura mater, the protective membrane of the brain and spinal cord. The electronic dura mater, which we call e-dura, embeds interconnects, electrodes, and chemotrodes that sustain millions of mechanical stretch cycles, electrical stimulation pulses, and chemical injections. These integrated modalities enable multiple neuroprosthetic applications. The soft implants extracted cortical states in freely behaving animals for brain-machine interface and delivered electrochemical spinal neuromodulation that restored locomotion after paralyzing spinal cord injury.